
RUFUS PUTNAM 



rr 



TBWEST. 



15V 



Kev. SIDNEY CKAWFORD, 



RUTLAND. MASSACHUSETTS. 



4760 



O 



''^c^- 

^Xr 
^^^ 

^^t^ 



RUFUS PUTNAM 



PIONEER LIFE IN THE NORTHWEST. 



BY 



Rev. SIDNEY (CRAWFORD, 



RUTLAND, MASSACHUSETTS. 



From Pkoceedings of the Amekican Antiquarian Society, at the Anni al 
Meeting in Worcester, October 21, 1898. 



Wovcfsitcv, |Ha^^., \\, ^. %, 

PKESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON. 

3 11 Main Street. 

1899. 



RUFUS PUTNAM, AND HIS PIONEER LIFE IN THE 
NORTHWEST. 



The life of General Rufus Putnam is so intimately con- 
nected with the history of the first century of oui- country 
that all the facts concernino- it are of interest. It is a most 
commendable effort which has been put forth, therefore, 
during the more recent years, to give his name the place it 
deserves among the founders of our republic. We boast, 
and rightly, of our national independence, and associate 
with it the names of Washington and Jefferson, which have 
become household words throughout the land ; but, when 
we come to look more closely into the problem of our 
national life from the beginning of it down to the present 
time, we find that one of the most essential factors in its 
solution was the work of Rufus Putnam. Although a man 
of humble birth, and never enjoying many of the advan- 
tages of most of those who were associated with him in 
the movements of his time, yet, in point of all the sturdy 
qualities of patriotism, sound judgment and far-sighted- 
ness, he was the peer of them all. 

To him, it may be safely said, without detracting from 
the fame of any one else, the country owes its })resent 
escape from the bondage of African slavery more than to 
any other man. Had it not been for his providential 
leadership, and all that it involved, as is so tersely written 
on the tablet in the Putnam Memorial at Rutland, "The 
United States of America would now be a great slavehold- 
ing empire." He was the originator of the colonj^ to make 
the first settlement in the territory northwest of the Ohio. 



River wlien it was yet a wilderness, and that settlement 
carried with it the famous Ordinance of 1787, by which 
slavery was forever to be excluded from all that region. 
Now that section is occupied by the great States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Had slavery once crossed the river, it is not difficult to 
see what would have been its bearing upon our national 
destiny. Hon. Thomas Ewing of Ohio, in his address at 
the centennial celebration at Marietta in 1888, said, " The 
Marietta colony were in a large sense the emancipators of 
the slaves and the architects of the republic." Putnam 
has been called the " Father of Ohio," blithe was also really 
the Father of the Northwest, for the Ohio Company, of 
Avhich he was the prime mover, originally bought of the 
government all that immense tract of land (a million and a 
half acres), which was afterwards divided up into Ohio 
and the other States already named. The principles which 
went into and dominated one practically gave character to 
all. Prof. James D. Butler, LL.D., one of the oldest and 
most respected members of the faculty of the University 
of Wisconsin, has expressed it in thiswise: "Wisconsin 
is largely of the same Eastern stock with her four older sis- 
ters. No middle wall of partition divides our quintette." 

" ' We grew together, 
Like to a five-fold cherry, seeming parted, 
But yet "with union in partition : 
Five lovely berries molded on one stem, 
So with five seeming bodies, but one heart.' " 

In his recent address at Rutland, on the occasion of 
placing a memorial tablet in the old Putnam House by the 
Massachusetts Sons of the Revolution, Hon. George F. 
Hoar of the United States Senate has given a very clear 
and complete outline of the life, character and work of 
this remarkable man. Nothing which is essential to an 
intelligent understanding of that life could be added ; but 
there are incidents and reminiscences connected with it 



which arc not so generally well known which may be of 
interest. It was the privilege of the writer some years 
ago, when on an historical mission to Marietta, where the 
greater part of Putnam's memorable life was led, to have 
access to a large collection of his un[)ul)lished letters nud 
journals, now yellow with age, and to make (juite copious 
notes from them. The puri)ose of this paper is, by the 
use of this and other material of the same sort, to l)ring 
out some features of Rufus Putnam's life which may ser\-e 
as a kind of supplement to what has already been pub- 
lished. His service for his country dates from the time 
when, from North Brookfield, he enlisted in the French 
and Indian war, in 1757. He tells us in a journal which 
he kept in those days that he went out in the company of 
Capt. Ebenezer Learned, a very religious man, who 
" prayed regularly night and morning with his men, and on 
the Sabbath read a sermon in addition." It is an interest- 
ing coincidence that when young Putnam, then only nine- 
teen years of age, and others of the noble pioneers of 
Ohio shouldered their muskets and made those wearisome 
marches to Canada, and endured such privations in the 
old French war, they were really fighting for the region 
which was to be their future home, and where, some years 
later, they were to lay the foundations of many rich 
and prosperous States. The very men who had helped 
England wrest the Northwest country from France in the 
French and Indian war, and who afterward, with the aid of 
France, reconquered it from England, now go out to make 
it their home, ready, if the necessity should occur, as it 
did, to take up arms once more to defend it from the 
Indians, who had been their foes in both the previous 
wars. After the war of the Revolution, in which he distin- 
guished himself as military engineer and officer, we tind 
Putnam returning to his farm, which a few years before he 
had purchased in Rutland, and there devoting himself to 
all the employments and duties of an ordinary citizen. 



6 

From the following abstracts from the town records we see 
the part which he took in toAvn affairs. His name generally 
appears without the military title, and as simpl}^ Rufus 
Putnam, Esq., save in one instance, where he is desig- 
nated as Col. Rufus Putnam. 

In the town warrant for May 13, 1782, an article 
appears : " To remit to Abraham Wheeler, late constable, 
part of Col, Rufus Putnam's taxes, dated Sept. 15, 1781, 
for hiring men to serve in the army, 5 pounds 11 shillings." 

Sept. 14, 1783. "Voted that Isaac Wheeler, Simeon 
Heald, Rufus Putnam, Es(i. (and others) be a committee to 
view the road to Asa Adams to see whether a road can l)e 
made any other way to ])etter advantage and report to the 
town at the adjournment of this meeting." 

Nov. 17, 1783, there is an article "To see whether the 
town will grant mone}^ to repair any of the school houses 
in the town or act anything thereon." " Voted, that C'ai)t. 
David Bent, Rufus Putnam, Esq. (and others) l)e a com- 
mittee to make necessar}' repairs on the school houses now 
built in this town, and report the expense to the town at 
some future meeting for allowance and })ayment." Another 
article : " To see whether the town will cmpoAver any per- 
son or persons to settle with Jabez Fairbanks respecting his 
suit against the town, or act anything thereon." " Voted, 
that Dea. Jonas How (and others) be a committee to make 
a settlement." At an adjourned meeting, Dec. 1, " Voted, 
that Rufus Putnam, Esq., lie added to the committee." 

March 5, 1784, an article appears: "That the town 
choose collector to collect the taxes in the same the present 
year." "Voted, that the collection of the said taxes be let 
at auction and struck off to the lowest bidder who shall 
procure sufficient bonds for the faithful discharge of said 
office to the acceptance of the town." "Then Rufus 
Putnam, Esq., appeared and offered to undertake the col- 
lection of said taxes for 30 shillings on each one hundred 
pounds," 



Miircli 1"), 17(S4. "'I'lic lowii Ikmiiu' met jiccordiiii:- to 
adjourniiuMit acted furtlicr on the second ai'ticlc. Ilufus 
Putnam, Es(i., was chosen collector. Sworn. Voted to 
accept of Cai)t. Tlios. Read and John Stone as bondsmen 
for the said collector's faithful discharge of said office. 
Rufus Putnam, Es(j., chosen constable. Sworn." 

In the records from this date there are several notifica- 
tions for town meetings, of which the following is a s})eci- 
men : 

Rutland, Nov. 22, 1784. 

In obedience to the warrant I have notified the inhal)i- 
tants of Rutland to meet at the time and place for the 
purpose therein stated, 

(Signed) Rurus Putnam, 

Constable. 

Nov. 2, 1784. Voted to Rufus Putnam, Esq., for repair- 
ing school house in the middle school jolot the sum of B 
})ounds 14 shillings and 2 pence. April 4, 1785, the town 
gave him 2 votes for State senator ; April 3, 178(), 21 votes ; 
and April 2, 1787, 29 votes. 

May 8, 1786. "Voted Rufus Putnam, Esq., for sur- 
veying a road and carrying Beulah Collar to Leicester, 17 
shillings and 10 pence. Voted also that Rufus Putnam, 
Esq. (and 8 others) be a committee to report a proper 
number and arrangement of school plots in the town at 
the adjournment of this meeting, and report each plot's 
bounds." The committee reported June 12, 178(i. 

Jan. 17, 1787. At a town meeting called by Hezekiah 
Ward, Justice of Peace, "The question was i)ut whether 
the town should dismiss their member of the convention 
or not. Rufus Putnam, Esc]., claimed a right to protest 
against the vote. Capt. Phinehas Walker was chosen a 
■member of the convention." 

At the same meeting there was an article "To see 
whether the town will act on a letter from a committee of 
the body of the people that assembled at Worcester on the 



8 

7th of Dec. la.st passed, or act anything thereon." "Voted 
to take the letter mentioned in the article into considera- 
tion. Dea. Jonas How claimed a right to protest against the 
vote." "Voted to choose a connnittee to petition the Gen- 
eral Court agreeable to the letter. Rufus Putnam, Es(]., 
claimed a right to protest for himself and all others who 
should choose to sign." 

(These last minutes are supposed to refer to Avhat is 
known in history as the Shaj's rebellion.) 

March 5, 1787. Chosen chairman of selectmen; also 
surveyor of hig-hwavs and collector of hiffhway taxes. 
March 18, 1787. Chosen moderator of Town Meeting. 

The original i)lot which he made for the division of the 
town into school districts, in accordance with the vote taken 
June 12, 1786, may now be seen in the Putnam Memorial 
at Rutland. 

It was during his residence in Rutland that his famous 
corres})ondence with Washington as to the best way to 
secure the un})aid dues to the Soldiers of the Revolution 
took place, and many of the letters which passed between 
them on this suliject may now be seen among the Putnam 
papers at Marietta, Ohio. A simple allusion to this link 
in his life may be all that is necessary in this connection, 
a more complete account of which may be found in the 
able address of Senator Hoar, to which reference has 
already l)een made. 

Congress failing to adoi)t his suggestions, eiulorsed by 
Washington, that public lands belonging to the government 
west of the Ohio River be assigned to the soldiers in lieu 
of money unpaid, he originated the idea and was largely 
instrumental in the organization of what is known in 
history as the Ohio Company, the object of which was to 
purchase' outright those lands, })rovided a projjcr guarantee 
against the introduction of slavery into that territory' could 
be secured, paying for them in most i)art with government 
scri}), which the soldiers held in large sums. 



9 

When the Ohio ('oiiipaiiv was ioriucd (Jcii. Piitiiaiii was 
chosi'ii its suj)ei"iiiteii(l('iit. His coinniission, signed l)y 
JauR's M. \^ainum, is still })re.served in the archives of the 
college at Marietta, a.s also are many of his letters. 
Among those associated with him in this ( V)m])any were 
some of the brightest men of his time. Washington said 
of them, "They were men to whom education, religion, 
freedom, private and public faith, which they incorporated 
in the fundamental compact of Ohio, were the primal neces- 
sities of life." Rev. Manasseh Cutler, D.D., of Ipswich, 
Massachusetts, his princi})al coadjutor, stands out in bold 
relief from all the rest. His part in securing the passage 
of the Ordinance of 17(S7, and afterward in purchasing of 
Congress the lands in the northwestern territory, entitles 
him to favorable mention always with the name of Rufus 
Putnam. His biographer saj's of him: "He had a versa- 
tile talent and l)road learning, and was possessed of 
wonderful tact, both in si^eech and conduct ; of elegant 
bearing ; a favorite in the drawing room and in the camp ; 
and, withal, a most noted naturalist, known almost ecjually 
well in scientific circles in Europe and America." The 
Ordinance passed July 11th, 1787. On the 27th of the 
same month Congress passed an act authorizing the sale to 
the Ohio Company of 1,500,000 acres of land on the Ohio, 
about the mouth of the ^luskingum, for $1.00 per acre, 
Avith an allowance for bad lands not to exceed one-third of 
a dollar per acre. The contract was closed Oct. 27th of 
the same year, and signed l)v Samuel Osgood and Arthur 
Lee for the Board of Treasury, and by Manasseh Cutler 
and Winthro}) Sargent for the Ohio Company. It is the 
only case in history, with a single exception, when the 
Laws and Constitution have been projected into a terri- 
tory prior to its occupation by its future inhabitants. 
Congress appointed as officers of the new territory Gen. 
Arthur St. Clair governor, Maj. Winthrop Sargent secre- 
tary, and Gen. Samuel H. Parsons and James M. Varnum 



10 

judii'cs. After the purchase was made, and Cutler had 
returned to his home, there arose a lively discussion on 
the merits of the transaction and the wisdom of the i)ro- 
posed migration to the far west. Dr. Cutler Avrote a 
pamphlet, in which he set forth in glowing colors the won- 
derful attractions of the western country for emigration. 
Others looked upon the scheme with ridicule. 

A penny anti-moving-to-Ohio })a])er caricatured the 
whole thing by a rude wood-cut, in which a stout, ruddy, 
well-dressed man, on a sleek, fat horse, with a legend 
appended, " I'm going to Ohio," was represented as meet- 
ing a pale and ghasth' skeleton-like looking figure, clad in 
tatters, astride an almost inanimate animal, and underneath 
the label, " I've been to Ohio." In three of the December 
1787 issues and in one of the flanuary issues of 17S8 of 
Tlie Worcester Magazine appears the following advertise- 
ment : 

OHIO COMPANY. 

Adventurers in the Ohio Company who subscriljed with Ruri'S Putnam are 
requested to meet at Mr. John Stowers's, innholder, in Worcester, on Tuesday, 
the 18th instant, at two o'clock in tlie afternoon, to choose an A^ent or Aj^ents, 
agreeably to the Articles of Association, as the said Putnam is very soon to set out 
for the Ohio Country, and can serve his friends as Agent no longer. 

RuFus Putnam. 

Rutland, Dec. 3J, 1787. 

Only a day or two l)efore this notice Avas first pub- 
lished one party of men for the west had started from 
Danvers, Massachusetts, under Maj. Hafiield White, and 
about a month later (Jan. 1, 1788,) another company, 
under Col. Ebenezer Sproat, left New Haven, Connec- 
ticut, for the same destination. Putnam wrote his ne})hew 
John Matthews, who seems to have been with the first 
company, as follows : " You and Mr. Tupper are appointed 
surveyors under me, and you maj^ expect to see mc at 
Monongohela, or perhaps Wheeling Creek, by the tenth 
of February. ]Maj. White comes on Avith a party 
desio-ned for buildino- the l)oats. He has my orders to 
contract for supplies of jn-ovisions for the Avhole party till 
Aug. next. I am not coming with a view only to do the 



11 

work of the company, but I intend to remove my family 
as soon as I have provided a place to put them in." The 
men makina- up the two parties numbered in all foi'ty- 
eio-ht, and represented the various trades of carpentering, 
Itoat l)uildini>-, enoineerino-, etc. It has been disparaging-ly 
said of them that they were merely hirelings, and of Putnam 
himself that he was a land speculator, and therefore not 
worthy the honor Avhich is being heaped upon him. True, 
they were in one sense "hired men." Thej were sent 
ahead to prepare the way. Not able to go at their own 
expense, they were paid the nominal sum of four dollars a 
month till discharged. But they were men of most })atri- 
otic motiyes, and men also of superior culture and charac- 
ter. A third of them, it is said, were college graduates. 
It was no doubt Putnam's plan in the first place to provide 
good homes for his former comrades in arms. He maA^ 
not haye seen much farther ahead than that. Probably he 
built better than he knew. Rut we might say the same of 
Columbus and of the Pilgrim Fathers. No human eye can 
see the end from the beginning. But this is certain, had 
it not been for Gen. liufus Putnam and his wise leadership 
into the wilds of the great northwest, American history 
would haye l)een written far differently from what it is 
now. Their journey across the continent in the dead of 
winter was no holiday excursion. We find this entr}' in 
Putnam's journal : "I joined the party at Ijincoln's inn, 
near a creek which was hard frozen, but not sufficient to 
l)ear the wagon, and a whole day was spent in cutting a 
passage. So great a quantity of snow fell that day and the 
following night as to (juite block up the road. Our only 
resource; was to l)uild sleds and harness our horses one 
before the other, and in this manner, with four sleds and 
the men in front, to break the track. We set forward and 
reached the youghiogheny, a tri])utary of the Ohio, Fel). 
14, where we found Maj. AYliite, who had arrived Jan. 
3d." In a letter written to Dr. Cutler he says ; "It would 



12 

give you pain and me no pleasure to detail our march over 
the mountains or our (lela3^s afterwards on account of the 
bad weather and other misfortunes." There were some 
rather humorous features to their trip. CV)1. Sproat, in 
command of the second party, was a thorouahiioing 
Yankee, 6 feet 4 inches tall, good natured, and exceed- 
ingly fond of animals. One Sunday they stopped over 
Avith a well-to-do German farmer in Pennsyl\ania, who 
treated them with the utmost hos})itality. 

During the halt some one, thinking to play a good joke 
on the colonel, hid the Dutchman's pet dog in one of the 
wagons, which was not discovered till they were well on 
their way the next day, when a messenger came riding up 
to the colonel in hot haste with this note from his German 
friend. "Meester Colonel Sproat, I dinks I use you well. 
Den for what you steal my little tog?" It liardly need he 
said that the dog was soon on his way back to its owner. 
After reaching a place called Sumrill's Ferr}^, for about six 
weeks they were busy building a good sized boat and sev- 
eral smaller ones for their voyage down the Ohio. The 
large boat they named " Adventure Galley," but afterward 
changed it to what they considered a more appropriate 
name, "The Mayflower," as a sort of second edition of the 
good ship in which the Pilgrim Fathers years l)efore had 
come over to this new country to lay the foundations of a 
Christian commonwealth. Rufus Putnam and his brave 
company were, in fact, going out to sow in the wilderness 
of the Northwest seed from which a rich harvest of the 
Pilgrim ideas would be gathered in the years to come. 
They reached their destination at the junction of the 
Ohio and Muskingum Rivers the 7th day of April, 1788, 
about noon. The voyage down the river is described 
as delightful. It was during the opening days of spring. 
Representatives of the various tribes of Indians in that 
reo;ion were on hand to <»:ive them a o-racious welcome. 
There is now a ])ainting in one of the halls at Marietta, 
made in 184U by a local artist of some repute, Avhich 



13 

represents the landing scene. It is said to ho tolerably 
true to facts so far as they could l)e lilcancd from letters 
and journals written by the persons who were nienil)ers of 
the iii'oup itself. It is laid on the lcftl)aid< of the ^luskin- 
i>uni, a(|uarter of a mile or so above its mouth. A i^roup 
of white men has just ascended the bank from the boats, 
among whom Gen. Putnam and Col. Sproat are especially 
prominent. Corn Planter, the chief of the Senecas, in 
full dress, is shaking hands with the General, and wel- 
eoniing him to the country. Capt. Pipes, chief of the 
Delawares, is close by his side, while the squaw or wife of 
Corn Planter, in a rich mantle of broadcloth decorated 
with five hundred silver brooches, and a head-dress of 
richly colored silk handkerchiefs, stands in a modest atti- 
tude looking pleasantly on the new comers. Grou})s of 
Indians are seen advancing, Avliile others are seated on the 
trunk of a newh' fallen tree. Sixt}'^ or seventy Indians 
from various tribes have been here some weeks for the 
purpose of making a treaty. The l)ackground takes in 
Fort Harmer, a frontier military post on the op})osite bank 
of the river, and the low range of l)luffs which skirt the 
horizon from north to south. The next day after their 
arrival the surveyors began to lay out the new town, 
Gen. Putnam himself takino- charoe of the work. The 
plan of the city as he originally drew it with his own 
hands is today among his papers in JNIarietta College 
lil)rarv. A clearing was soon made in the forest, and, 
although the season was far advanced, the first 3'ear one 
hundred and thirty acres were })hinted with corn after a 
rude fashion, from which they harvested in the fall thirt}- 
bushels to the acre. The rivers furnished an al)undance 
of fish, and the forests game, so the}' did not lack a 
sufBciency of food for that year. 

In a letter to Dr. Cutler, Gen. Putnam wrote as follows : 
" The men are generally in good health, and I believe 
nnicli pleased with the eountry. 'i'hat I am so myself you 
may be assured. 1 can onh' add, the situation of the c'lt^j 



14 

plot is the most delightful of any I ever saw." June 
15th a hundred new recruits, or al)out fifteen families, 
joined the colony, from the east, coming- by way of the 
river on "The Mayflower," wliich now made occasional 
trips l)etwoen the settlement and Sumrill's Ferry on the 
upper Ohio. The name of the new town was called 
Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the queen of 
France, in acknowledgment of her courtesy to Benjamin 
Franklin, at that time the United States minister to 
France. As General St. Clair, the newly appointed terri- 
torial governor, had not yet arrived, the jieople very 
soon met and that they might live in an orderly way 
enacted some temporar}^ laws, and posted them on the 
trees where all could see them. 

It is not strange that a body of men like these should 
want to celebrate the anniversary of their national inde- 
pendence, nor is it to be wondered at that Gen. Putnam 
should take the lead in such a movement. The original 
subscription paper, drawn in his own handwriting, to raise 
money for a celebration the first year, is still in good 
state of preservation as the property of Hon. George 
Woodbridge of Marietta. It reads as follows : 

"The sul)scril)ers hereby agree to celebrate the anniver- 
sary of the Independence of the United States upon the 
Fourth of July next. They will provide a })ublic diimer 
for themselves, his excellency the governor and his suite, 
the officials of the government, and such others as may 
occasionally be invited. The expenses shall be equally 
borne and paid to Mr. flonas Backus, who is desired to 
provide the entertainment. 

RuFUS Putnam 
& 47 others." 

A large bower was erected near the river, and every 
preparation was made to carry out the plan, l)ut, as the gov- 
ernor for some reason did not put in an a})pearance, one 
of their own number, James M. Varnum, an accomplished 
orator, delivered the address, and the da}' was pronounced 



15 

a success. One of the first structures to he huilt was a fort, 
to secure them against possihle invasion from the Indians. 
Althouiih they aave every assurance of friendliness, (ien. 
Putnam, from liis })revi()iis exix'rienee with Indian charac- 
ter, knew too well that it would not do to put too nuich 
confidence in their professions. 

Subsequent developments })roved his wisdom in this 
respect. Under his direction a stockade, occupvino- some 
eight acres, laid out in the form of a s(|uare, was inclosed 
by a palisade of strong posts driven into the ground and 
pointed at the top. Inside this was built a substantial two- 
story building of timl)er, around an open court, 180 ievt 
on each side, and defended at each corner by a blockhouse, 
which was higher than the rest, and pierced with portholes. 
This buildino' was lare'e enouo'h to furnish accommodation 
in case of necessity for about fifty families. It was in one 
of these l)lockhouses that the first court of the territory 
was held, and the same place was used for religious 
services for a number of } ears. This structure for defence 
bore the somewhat pretentious name of Campus Martins. 
As Gen. Putnam was the superintendent of the colony, 
e\ery one looked to him for the management of all affairs 
and the adjustment of all difficulties. 

Among his papers at Marietta one finds relics of both the 
serious and the amusinji" features of those times. Here is 
ou-e which seems to combine a little of both. It would 
seem that an Indian had l)een killed by a white man in 
revenge for some injury, and the wife of the nnu'dered 
Indian was in want. Gen. Putnam gives an order on a 
store for her relief, as follows : 

"Marietta, May 17th, 17i>7. 
Sir :— 

Pleze to Deliver the Dellancrane woman, widow of the 

murdered Indian Such goods as she shall chuze to wipe 

away her Tears to the amount of Five Dollars. 

. ■ Krrrs Pitnam. 

lo Gnfrin Green es<i. or 

Charles Green." 



16 

It was in the yesiv 1790, or about two years after the 
arrival of the first colony, that Gen. Putnam returned to 
Rutland, his old home in Massachusetts, for his family. 
An interesting sketch of tlie journe}' back to Marietta with 
his family and some of his neighl)ors Avas written a good 
many years afterMard by one Avho when a l)oy \\'as a mem- 
ber of the party (Benjamin Franklin Stone of Chillicothe, 
Ohio.) He recalls at the age of eighty the experiences 
of a boy of twelve : 

"I remember the mornini>' of our starting; for Ohio. 
Mr. Burlingame's family, of Avhich I was a member, \v(>nt 
to Gen. Putnam's the evening before. The next morn- 
ing after famih' praj-ers and breakfast the}' Ijegan to 
tackle up the teams. . . . Putnam's family consisted of 
himself and wife, two sons and five single daughters. . . . 
Gen. Putnam had two hired men who were his teamsters. 
. . . There were twentj-six of us in alL It seemed to 
the old folks a vast enterprise to go eight hundred miles 
into a savage countr}', as it was then called. There were 
three ox wagons, with two yoke of oxen to each, and Gen. 
Putnam's two-horse carriage, and one saddle horse. My 
mother had one cow, and Putnam had three or foiu' neat 
cattle, includino- a bull of a choice breed. AVe were eifflit 
weeks on the journey. 1 think we did not travel on the 
Sabbath, for I distinctly remember that we tarried at Beth- 
lehem, Pennsylvania, and attended public worship. . . . 
Among other pre})arations for the journe}' nn' mother and 
sister had knit up a large quantity of socks and stockings. 
They were packed in a bag, and that bag was used by the 
boys who lodged in the Avagon for a bolster. By some 
means the bag was lost out of the wagon or stolen. The 
boys missed it of course the first night. That morning my 
brother went back the whole distance of the previous day's 
journey, and inquired and advertised it without success. I 
do not remember how many pairs of stockings there were 
in it, but from the size of the bag I judge there were at 
least one hiuidred. ... Our ox teams were (juite a curi- 
osity to the Yorkers and Pennsjdvanians. They called 
them the cow teams. ... I remember the steep rough 
roads in the mountains. Sometimes they would take the 
foremost pair of oxen and chain them to the hind end of 



17 

the waii'on when yoing down a steep place, where they 
woukl uaturalh' hold back, and so make it easier for the 
other })air to hold back. . . . Gen. Putnam had travelled 
the road three or four times l)cf()re, and he had a list of all 
the houses that he meant to put up at, and ever}- morn i no- 
lle would sdy to the teamsters, ' So many miles to such a 
place tonight.' He would generally go forward horseback 
and make arrangements for the night. . . . Two nights 
in all the journey did we fail of reaching the a})p<)inted 
})lace, though sometimes it was at a late hour, owing to the 
badness of the roads on rainy days. We had but little 
rainy weather until we reached the headwaters of the 
Youghiogheny at Sumrill's Ferry. We waited a few days 
at the house of Mr. C^rnahan till the boats were finished 
which the General had engaged the summer previous when 
he was returning from Ohio to New England. . . . We 
observed the western line of Pennsylvania where it crossed 
the Ohio. It had been marked by cutting down all the 
trees a space of three or four rods wide. . . . 

" It was slow% tedious work on the ri^'er, often getting 
aground, when all the men from both boats had to unite to 
shove the boat over the shoal })laces. Some of our part}' 
writing to their friends in liutland informed them of our 
getting aground on the fish dams above Pittsburgh, but 
carelessly left out the word dams, so it read ' got aground 
on the Jish.' The answer came back, 'You must have 
very large Jish in the Ohio.' At length we arrived at 
Marietta al)out nine o'clock in the morning. I cannot tell 
the day. . . . All the settlers gave us a hearty welcome. 
It can scarcel}' be realized now by persons born and brought 
up here with what feelings the first settlers welcomed every 
accession to their number. Thej^ had just passed through 
a time of great scarcity of provisions. Corn was now ri})e. 
Providence had favored them with a good crop. It was a 
time of peace, and they Avere full of hopes that soon they 
would be relieved from all the privations incident to a neAV 
settlement so far l)eyond the abodes of civilized man. . . . 
This was in November, ITDO. . . . Within a few days 
the massacre of the settlement at Big Bottom took place, 
which carried dismay to every mind in the infant settle- 
ment." 

The Indian war dates from Jan. 1 7th, 1 7i,> 1 . The cx[)eri- 



18 

ence of the next four years was one of great hardship and 
danger, (len. Putnam in those trj^ing times showed his 
good judgment and genius for leadership, and practically 
.saved the colony from destruction. Many of the Ohio 
Company who had clung to him as long as there was pros- 
pect of success and plenty now withdrew when the dark 
days came. But he was made of different fil)re from that. 
His experience in the French and Indian war had taught 
him some things which now came in play. Governor St. 
Clair, who was officialh' his superior, undertook to quell the 
outl)reak hy marching against the invaders with the mili- 
tary force at his command, but proved wholly incompetent 
to cope with the savage foe. Putnam, realizing the danger 
which threatened, appealed to Washington for help, 
writing : " Our situation is truly distressing, and I do most 
earnestly therefore im})lore the protection of government 
for myself and friends inhabitino- the wilds of America. 
To this we consider ourselves justly entitled." But for 
some reason no help came. His friend Fisher Ames, then 
a representative in Congress, wrote to him that he Avas glad 
the country sj^mpathized with them and was not indisposed 
to give effectual protection although it would cost money, 
but that circumstances, too often threw cold water on the 
natural emotions of the public towards their distressed 
brethren. So Putnam took the matter into his own hands 
and organized a company of scouts selected with reference 
to their courage and skill in reading the movements of 
the enemy, and gathered his little colony within the walls 
of the fortification Avhich he had prepared against such an 
emergency as this. During these })erilous times the men 
would cultivate the fields near by as best they could, but 
never went so far away that they could not retire within 
the walls of the stockade in case of an attack by the 
enemy. And so they lived in constant fear and danger 
through those long and cb-ear}^ years, knowing not 
what a da}' might brino- forth. There were some rather 



19 

aiiiusiiio- iiu'idciits iiiinoled with those iiioic soIxt days. 
The thrifty ha])its of the New Eiit>hiiid house-wife were 
eontinualh' ero})pini>- out. One night when danger was 
threatening, undercover of darkness (^ol. Sproat eanu^ into 
the blockhouse with a box of })a])ers for safe-keeping. 
There folh)wed some young men with their firearms. Next 
a Avoman with her bed and children. After them an old 
man with his leathern a})ron full of goldsmith's tools and 
tobacco. His daughter brought the china teapot aiul 
saucers. Another brought the great Bible. But when all 
Avere in, mother Avas missing. Where Avas mother? One 
said "She must be killed by the Indians." "Oh no," said 
another ; " mother said she Avould not leaAe the house 
looking so, and so she remained to i)ut things a little to 
rights." After a Avhile the old lady came bringing the 
looking-glass, kniA'cs, forks, etc. 

At last the government oi'dered Gen. Anthony Wayne, 
more commonly knoAvn as " Mad Anthony," Avith a bod}^ of 
troops to go to the relief of the settlers. Why Gen. Put- 
nam AA'^as not put in command is not quite clear, unless Gen. 
Wayne Avas higher in rank as an officer during the Avar 
of the Revolution. This is true, hoAvever, Gen. Putnam 
Avas of o;i"eat service to Wayne in bringino- the Indian 
Avar to a close and negotiating terms of peace. Among 
some official papers at Marietta relating to this period 
is an address Avhich he made at an Indian council convened 
for the purpose of arranging a treaty, some parts of 
Avhich are Avorthy to rank high in our American })atriotic 
literature. It begins as folloAvs : " Brothers : Let us 
smoke a pipe of friendshi})." When this preliminary part 
of tho proceeding Avas over he jn'oceeded. " Brothers : 
I conoratulate a'ou on our first meetimr toi>-ether this daA'. 
Ma' speeches which I sent you sixty days ago have reached 
you, and you are now come to hear what 1 have to say to 
you. We meet one another for a good })urpose, and the 
Great Spirit, who has preserved our lives to this day Avhere 



20 

we see one another face to face and shake hands together, 
will l)e witness to all our transactions. We meet together 
on no strange ground. It is the ground on which your 
ancestors have kindled a council fire, and where vou since 
have often met and smoked the pipe of i)eace. This fire 
must always be kept burning l)right so that you and your 
allies may see it and meet one another at all times without 
difficulty or fear there to smoke the pipe of peace, friend- 
ship and love. Brothers : I rose from the Great Council 
Fire of the United States four months ago. There I saAv 
the chiefs of the Five Fires and the chiefs of the Cheroke'e 
Nation smoke the pipe of peace with the great Chief of the 
United States, George Washington. The fire was burning 
bright, and all that were around it felt ha})i)y. The great 
Chief wished this happiness to extend to all nations. His 
council fire is kindled for the benefit of all nations. He 
loves to see his brothers ; to talk and smoke with them. 
Brethren : While the great Chief, George Washington, was 
thus joyful Avith his l)rothers that were Avith him he looked 
around and saw with sorrow that some of his distant 
brothers could not enjoy this happiness with him at present. 
He ol)served that a dark cloud had sprung up between them 
and the United States some time ago, and that this cloud 
had darkened the sky so much that his brothers and the 
people of the United States could not distinguish one 
another, but stuml)led against each other and struck the 
tomahawk in each other's heads. Brothers : The "reat 
Chief, wishing to have this dark cloud removed and dis- 
]:)ersed, to see the tomahawk drawn out of the heads of 
each other and buried in the deep, to take each other by the 
hand anew and establish a new and lasting friendshij) 
between all his l)rothers and the United States, has 
appointed me his agent for this i)urpose. I am therefore 
come to you in confidence that Ave shall l)e al)le to accom- 
plish this great Avork, and I may then return again to the 
great Chief Avitli assurance of friendship and peace. 



21 

Brothers: I told you in my speech which 1 sent you th;it 
when I came I sliouhl hrin<>- your Avoiiien and chll<h-en a\ ith 
nie and return them to tlieir friends. They are now with 
you. Brothers : I shall ;d\\;iys speak to you from my 
heart, not from my lips only. S])eak also from your 
hearts. Tell me the cause of your uneasiness and T will 
endeavor to remove it." 

The above speeeh being interpreted ])y })eriods to the 
several tribes, General Putnam delivered them a bunch of 
white wampum containing six strings. After a h)ng silence 
•a chief of the Eel River tribe rose, shook hands, and, 
after apologizing for being sick, said : 

" j\Iy older l)rother : All your brothers have heard you, 
and rejoice at what you have said. I Avill say no more at 
present, but we Avill consult among ourselves, and will 
return }'ou an answer tomorrow. You are right by saying 
that we meet one another on no strano-e o'round. It is the 
very place where our former chiefs met and smoked 
together." Next the chief of another tribe rose, shook 
hands, and said: " My older lirother : I am very glad that 
what I always told the nation has come to pass. ]My older 
l)rother : I never told a falsehood to my Father the 
French, nor to my brothers the Americans. We are all 
glad at what you have said, and will consider upon it and 
give you an ansAver tomorrow.*' 

Several more chiefs followed in the same vein, and then 
they retired to consult anu)ng themselves. It Avould seem 
as though they at first promised to enter into certain treaty 
relations, which afterward they refused to abide l)y, as we 
find Gen. Putnam at a subsecjuent meeting addressing them 
thus : "■ Brothers : After we had lit the pipe of peace yes- 
terday you told me that the sky was very clear, that we 
would now smoke together, and should observe that the 
smoke would ascend straight ujjwards. You then gave me 
the })i})es and desired me to ])resent them to our great 
Chief, Gen. Washington, that he might also smoke out of 



99 



tliem. Brothers: When the white peoi)h^ give a thin<r 
il^vn,Y they do not ask for it again." And so the conference 
continued, until a satisfactory treaty was established ; and 
it was owing largely to Putnam's rare ability and tact that 
it was brought al)out. 

During the Indian war, to meet the pressing needs of 
the colony, it is recorded that Putnam and Ckitler were 
ol)liged to draw from their o^vn funds to the amount of 
about $11,000, which the government so far as we know 
never saAV fit to return. 

It is natural that the sul)ject of education should have 
been early considered by such men as these. A school was 
opened in the l^lockhouse at the southeast corner of 
Campus Martins very soon after it Avas Ijuilt. It was not 
long, however, before Gen. Putnam, feeling the need of 
))ctter educational facilities, started a subscription to build 
a house which might answer the purpose of an academy. 
And so Muskingum Academy, so-called, a primitive struc- 
ture, was built in 1790, at an ex})ense of about $1000, of 
which Putnam himself gave $300. David Putnam, a 
graduate of Yale College, a grandson of Gen. Israel Put- 
nam, and also a distant relative of Rufus, was the first 
princi})al. Gen. Putnam was always greatly interested in 
the subject of education, the more so probably as he 
realized the want of it in his own early life. He was 
notoriously a bad speller, as all his written documents 
am})]y show. In a letter to a friend he once wrote : 

" Had I been as much eniiaoed in learnin«- to write, 
spelling, etc., as with arithmetic, geography, and histor}^ 1 
might have been much better qualified to fill the duties of 
the succeeding scenes of life which in Providence I have 
been called to })ass through. Having neglected spelling 
and grammar when I was 3 oung, I have silffered much 
through life on that account." 

He concludes his letter l)y saying that he ho})ed his chil- 
dren woidd never allow the education of any one under 



23 

their (■luii"<i'e to he noglcctcul ;is his was. While liviiiii- in 
Rutland lie <>a.\'e to Leicester Academy, of which he was a 
trustee, $500. He w^as also a trustee of the University of 
Ohio at Athens. On account of his m-eat natural cfifts he 
always held a piominent position even aniona" men of 
greater education. President Israel N. Andrews, for 
many years the honored head of Marietta College, and 
authority on all matters of local history, said of him : " In 
a community of al)le men, many of them highly educated. 
Gen. Putnam was from the first a leading man." 

He was as we might expect, a man of profound relig- 
ious convictions. He was among the first in securing 
religious privileges for the new colony. The first ten 
years, services Avere held in the blockhouse on the north- 
west corner of Campus Martins and, after that, in the 
l)uilding of the Muskingum Academy. A church was 
organized in 1796, Gen. Putnam and his friend Gen. Tup- 
per being the leaders in the movement. The articles of 
faith and the covenant written out l^y himself may still be 
seen among the Congregational Church records of Mari- 
etta. His name is first on the list of the charter members 
and next to it the name of Persis, his wife. The present 
house of worshi}), and the oldest building now used for 
church purposes west of the Ohio River, is said to have 
been planned by him and Avas erected in 1809. The sub- 
scription list, wdiich is still preserved, is a curiosity of its 
kind. Among the articles given, l:)esides money, Avere 
pork, castor, brown and felt hats, lum])er, labor and mer- 
chandise of all kinds. Putnam himself subscribed $400 
in labor and lumber, to be paid by Aug. 1st, and $400 in 
cash, to be paid Oct. 1st. He AA^as one of the original 
trustees of what Avas knoAvn as " The First Religious Soci- 
ety of Marietta." 

The peAvs, as Avas the custom in those days, Avere sold by 
auction. He appears on the books of the church as the 
owner of thirty of them, which he probably bought for 
3 



24 

the f^nkv of hol})ing out the cause. He advanced also (juite 
an amount from his own i)rivate funds, as is seen by his 
Avill, dated July 8th, 1813, in which he says : "I give and 
bequeath and hereby appropriate $3,000 out of the money 
due me from the First Religious Society of Marietta as a 
permanent fund, the annual interest of which sluill be 
applied to the following objects b}" trustees hereinafter 
named : one-third part to the sui)port of the minister of 
the First Religious Society of Marietta ; one-third part to 
the support of a school for the education of poor children 
in Marietta ; one-third i)art for the support of missionaries 
to })reach the gospel to places destitute of a stated ministry 
or among Indian tribes." All through his long and greatly 
resi)ected life he was a conspicuous figure among the people 
of Marietta, and his influence was very marked throughout 
the State. He held many important offices of trust in 
his lifetime in both the general and the local govern- 
ments. In addition to those ah'eady named, he was one 
of the first territorial judges and also a memljcr of the 
convention to draw up a constitution for organizing the 
State of Ohio in 1802. In his best days he is descril)ed 
as being a man of splendid physiijue, six feet in height, 
erect, well proportioned and of a soldierly bearing. He 
was quick and decisive in all his movements and sometimes 
almost al)rupt in manners. By his kind-heartedness, hoAv- 
ever, he never failed to l)e conciliatory when the occasion 
warranted. He was cheery and ini})rcssive in conversation, 
and possessed a fund of anecdote and ready information on 
all topics. His declining years were ])eautiful in the def- 
erence i)aid him by a people Avho OAved him so much for 
all that he liad been to them in dark and bright days alike. 
When in Marietta in 1894 the Avriter of this pai)er Avas 
fortunate in olitaining from Mrs. Sarah Cutler Dawes of 
that city, a granddaughter of the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, 
D.D., an aged lady of 85 years, who has since died, the 
followiuii" reminiscences of Gen. Rufus Putnam, Avhich 



25 

she recalled from her early liirUiood. These are her 
words. " r was attendiiio- school in Marietta in lrS22-8. 
Miss So})hia Tapper was my seat mate and particular 
friend. Her mother was a daughter of Gen. Rufus Put- 
nam. She lived at Putnam, Ohio, now a part of Zanes- 
ville. She lived at Gen. Putnanrs here. Gen. Putnam's 
daughter Miss Betsey kept house for him in the old build- 
ing, which Avas a i^art of Campus Martins. I was often at 
the house with Sophia, and I rememl)er staying there once 
all night. I often saw Gen. Putnam and talked with him. 
Once Miss Betsey introduced me as Ephraim Cutler's 
daughter. He shook my hand a long time and said, 
' And you are Ephraim Cutler's daughter ! ' He shook 
my hand a long time. He Avas quite deaf. He seemed 
to me a very large looking man, but feeble with age. He 
was very erect in his carriage and dignified in manner, 
and I thought he walked like a soldier. He asked a bless- 
ing at table, standing himself at the head of the table 
while we all stood up l)y the side of our chairs. At night 
he had family prayers. We all stood up during the ser- 
vice, which was conducted by the General. He ai)peared 
old and his hand trembled. Once at the table he dropped 
a tumbler of water and broke a glass, when Miss Betsey 
said, ' Oh, father has broken a glass ! ' and she brought 
a silver cup for him. His house was well furnished, but 
not better than others of the same class. I saw him at 
church. He Avould Avalk up the aisle with great dignity, 
and all the i)eople seemed to pay him deference. I 
attended his funeral. There was a large crowd in attend- 
ance. The exercises Avere held in the Congregational 
Church. INIiss Betsey was a very gracious lad}-, kind to 
all, and she })resided over the house Avith dignity and 
graceful manners. A great niauA' jjcople A^isited them. 
There Avere liquors used at Gen. Putnam's, as Avas the case 
everA'Avhere else. But Kufus BroAvning told me that he 
once took a drink, and his 2:randfather, Rufus Putnam, 



20 

saw him and said, ' Do not ever touch another drop of 
liquor,' and that this had great influence over him and he 
never did." 

The house in which he lived for the greater part of his 
life after the Indian war is still standing. It was recon- 
structed from the old l)lockhou.se on the southeast corner of 
Campus Martins, and is a plain tAvo-storv liuilding, some- 
what smaller than the one in which he lived in Rutland. 
In one of the rooms may still be seen relics of the early 
colonial days, such as a powder-magazine and an ample 
closet for guns and military accoutrements. A large cham- 
l)er in the second story, in which Gen. Putnam died May 
4th, 1824, at the advanced age of 87 years, is still in a 
good state of repair. In the old Mound Cemetery, back on 
the bluffs which overlook the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, 
is a plain but substantial granite monument which marks 
his last resting-}) lace, having on its face this inscription : 

GEN. RUFUS PUTNAM, 
A revolutionary officer and leader of the colony which made 
the first settlement in the territory of the North West at 
Marietta, Apr. 7, 1788. 

Born Apr. 9th, 1738. 

Died May 4th, 1824. 

" The memory of the just is blessed." 

Gen. Putnam had a lunnerous family of children. Five 
sons and two daughters survived him. His descendants 
are widely scattered throughout the West, and are among 
its leading and influential citizens. All of his papers and 
letters relating to his pul)lic life descended to his grandson, 
C'ol. Rufus Putnam of Marietta, who at his death be- 
queathed them to Marietta College, in whose archives they 
are now safely deposited. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 574 368 • 



